A Study on Lexical Chunks and Their Implication
of TEFL in Senior Middle School
1. Introduction
For many years, vocabulary learning has been seen as peripheral to language
acquisition, both theoretically and practically. With the development of China,
English teaching and learning has got great popularity in the whole society.
Simultaneously, it has aroused many questions which deserved further researching to
make English teaching and learning more effectively. As to these questions, the study
of vocabulary acquisition by Chinese educators may be the most important parts,
therefore, vocabulary teaching is an indispensable part of English curriculum.
“Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed1.” As is widely known, vocabulary, the building material, is essential to a
language. It is one of the three basic components (pronunciation, vocabulary and
grammar), and is of utmost importance to people’s communication and language
learning. Therefore, in order to master a language well, it is necessary for language
learners to learn vocabulary well, but in fact, it seems very difficult for most of them
to do the job well. They are always troubled in the memory and comprehension of
vocabulary，because vocabulary has been traditionally thought of as individual words.
Of course, this view is inadequate resulted from vocabulary includes many units
which are larger than individual words, that is lexical chunks. As a teacher, he or she
should pay much attention to language use. Therefore, how to communicate with
others properly, and how to choose appropriate words or phrases to express the
thought exactly become more important than ever, so the status of vocabulary has
been increasingly improved in foreign and second language fields. This paper is going
to put the focus on the functions of chunks in vocabulary teaching based on the
researches and aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of phrase-approach theoretically
in the hope that lexical-chunk approach can offer them something useful.
In the researches, lexical chunks, such as compound and idioms, are a key
element of fluent language production and that they also play a great part in
vocabulary teaching and learning. Lexical chunk is a synthesis, which combines
‘form’ and ‘function’. The traditional teaching approach whose center is grammar
implies that language is a dichotomy of grammar/lexicon, that is, the basic frame is
grammar, and the lexicon is the filler. The disadvantage of this approach is lack of
“appropriateness”, because after learners have accumulated a lot of knowledge on
grammar, words and phrases, they still may not use proper utterances in certain
situation appropriately. The communicative approach emphasizes the communicative
function and it is lack of the knowledge of grammar related to making sentences. In
this situation, we recognize that we need a “middle” way to overcome the
disadvantages of the above two approaches. Lexical chunk is studied in the domain of
the communicative approach in nature, because lexical chunk, emphasizes the
communicative function of language and not regards lexicon as a kind of language
phenomenon like grammar. Lexical chunk study opens our eyes and provides us an
ideal approach for TEFL in senior middle school.
In recent years, with the wide using of computers, in the research of lexicon,
many researchers, through analysis of the data in computers, have found that the
communication in English is not completed only through words, phrases or
sentences. Most natural utterances are completed by the semi-fixed ‘chunks’
existing between words and fixed phrases2. That is to say, between language and
grammar, there exist some semi-fixed phrases which combine the features of
lexicon and syntax. Thus, it is thought that the stress on teaching and learning
lexicon in recent years is to research and application of these lexical chunks.
On the basis of a brief introduction to its definition and classification, this paper
discusses the application and pedagogical implications of lexical chunks for TEFL in
senior middle school.
2. Lexical Chunks
Traditionally, language is defined as lexical grammar, so it has been divided into
two categories: grammar and vocabulary. Vocabulary refers to the stock of fixed
nongenerative words. Grammar, which is considered more fundamental, consists of
elements of the generative system of language. That is to say, language is a kind of
highly systematic and rule-governed behavior. The learning of language means the
mastery of all the language rules-----grammar points. However, the above traditional
view of language has been challenged by some linguists, and applied linguists, for
example, Michael Lewis, James R Nattinger, DeCarrico, etc. They put forward a new
view of language and argue that language is not lexical grammar, but grammatical
lexis.
2.1 The definition of lexical chunks
Language consists of chunks which, when combined, produce continuous
coherent text. It is suggested that lexical chunks (or fixed expressions, lexical phrases,
ready-made chunks, unanalyzed language, collocation, institutional constructions,
prefabricated routines and patterns, etc. For the sake of convenience, I will only use
lexical chunks in the following content.) are quite pervasive in language and as
important as productive rules. They play a central part in first and second language
acquisition and in speech production.
As there is no fixed term to call these language phenomena, there is no fixed
definition to define them. Several linguists try to define lexical chunks.
Lexical chunks are lexical phrases of language with various length loaded with
communicative and discourse functions. This kind of expression is "rote-learned or
imitated chunks of unanalyzed language, available for learner use without being
derived from generative rules". As a whole chunk, much likes an individual lexical
item, rather than being generated from individual lexical items/forms with linguistic
rules. It is concluded from the observation of the occurrence of lexical expressions in
the language teaching and acquisition and from the above linguists' views, the author
claim that lexical chunks are frequently-occurred, fixed or semi-fixed multi-words or
sentences which are beyond users' current linguistic ability and acquired as wholes in
the process of language acquisition. Moreover, they can be recalled and used
automatically as wholes rather than generated from grammatical rules. Lexical chunks
do not necessarily observe the rules and analysis of grammar.
2.2 The classification of lexical chunks
Chunks include collocations, fixed and semi-fixed expressions and idioms, occupy
a crucial role in facilitating language production. These phrases include short,
relatively fixed phrases such as ______ago, or longer phrases or clauses，such as If
I …, then I …, the ___er…, the _____er…, each is associated with a fixed, basic
frame, with slots for various fillers. Each is associated with a particular discourse
function, such as expressing time, a month ago, or relationships among ideas, the
higher …, the higher …. Many linguists or applied linguists have attempted to
classify the expressions, and they present their classifications from different
perspectives, but obviously their classifications are overlapping. Here according to
their structures of lexical chunks, Lewis suggests four fundamental types:
●Polywords：Phrases which can only occur together like individual item. They are
invariable and can express many functional use of language. They function as a single
word and are frequently found in dictionaries. The following are some examples:
record player, of course，by the way， look up，all at once，the day after tomorrow.
●Institutionalized expressions (utterances)：As the name suggests, these are more
typical of the spoken than of the written mode. They are all those chunks of language
that are recalled as wholes and of which much conversation is made. The chunk may
be full sentences, usable with no variation, (I’ll get it. It’s nothing to do with me.) or
sentence head, which require another lexical item to provide a complete utterance (If I
were you, I’d wait).
They are idiomatic expressions like proverbs, aphorisms, formulas. These
institutionalized multi-word units ensure the efficient processing both receptively and
productively, in both speech and writing.
● Collocations：They refer to some pairs or groups of words which occur with each
other, that is, combinations of words in natural speech with a certain frequency.
Collocations describe the way individual words co-occur with others. They are
usually associated with verb- noun and adjective-noun phrases. For example: the word
‘hospital’ with “wards’ but not dormitories (which collocates with school), and man
with tall but not high (which collocates with building). Most typically, the key word is
a noun and collocation itself can be a measurement of chunking.
● Sentences builders: They provide a sentential frame which allows considerable
variation of phrasal or clausal elements. These are to a large extent the written
equivalent of institutionalized utterances. They are those large discourse features that
allow us to decode complex written text. Some are short and easy (sequencers such as
first, …secondly,…and finally…); the largest represent those frames that allow us to
structure long passage of text, usually written (e.g. the essay), but sometimes
spoken(the lecture or professional presentation).
Broadly, the categories equate to the traditional ones of vocabulary (now
polywords and collocations) and function (now institutionalized expressions and
Sentences builders). Grammar in this sense is radically emphasized within the lexical
approach.
2.3 The Function and importance of lexical chunks
In English foreign language teaching, many methods are designed to develop the
learners’ language proficiency. However, researches indicated that lexical-chunk
approach is the most feasible way to perform functional use of language, because
chunks play a crucial role in facilitating language production. Native speakers retain
many prefabricated lexical items in their memory, and they intuitively know
combinations of words in natural speech with a certain frequency.
2.3.1 Promoting the fluency and accuracy of language
Many linguists contribute to the lexical-chunk approach and language teaching.
Lewis thought language fluency and accuracy is achieved largely through retrieving
and combining ready-made chunks of language. It is believed that lexical chunks are
the key to fluency.
Most learners even with ‘good vocabularies’ have problems with fluency .Two
puzzles confuse the EFL learners. One is the puzzle of native-like fluency and the
other is native-like selection. One way to achieve native-like fluency is to acquire the
repertoire of lexical chunks, which are able to promote the improvising skills and
minimize processing demands.
An explanation for native speakers’ fluency is that vocabulary is not stored only
as individual words, but also as parts of phrases and larger chunks, which can be
retrieved from memory as a whole, reducing processing difficulties. On the other hand,
learners who only learn individual words will need a lot more time and effort to
express themselves. By stringing lexical chunks together, native speakers are able to
produce stretches of fluent language. In contrast to this, second language learners may
often have to pause between every 2 or 3 words because of the need to process
language as well as thoughts. With the basic pattern already available from a lexical
chunk, it would seem relatively easy to add clauses to customize the pattern to the
situation at hand. For example: (person) thinks nothing of V+ing…
leading to:
 He thinks nothing of teaching five classes a day.
 Lily thinks nothing of hiking 40 miles.
 I think of nothing of finishing this work on this weekend.
We can see that the use of lexical chunks aid fluency, because a large vocabulary
can be acquired without deliberate help, and subsequently recognized and used
without much trouble when learners want to express something. Therefore the
memory of associating lexical chunks with their functional use can be easily called up
and demand less cognitive capacity.
2.3.2 Facilitating language idiomaticity and vividness
The first puzzle---native-like fluency have just discussed, now having to study
the latter puzzle---native-like selection, which refers to learners can have a feeling of
native speakers by selecting accurate and idiomatic English language. The learners are
always dependent on the rules of grammar and pay more attention on the study of
words and grammar, therefore, they neglect the importance of lexical chunks, Due to
lexical chunk is the exemplar which appears to be stored and retrieved whole from
memory, the language will be accurate and vivid when it is used in particular situation
appropriately. For instance, native speakers tend to use ‘see eye to eye’ when they
want to indicate that they have the same opinion as someone. As encountering a hard
nut to crack, they say ‘hot potato’ vividly, but not ‘difficult problem’. In a word, the
appropriate use of lexical chunk makes sure learners express themselves idiomatically,
meanwhile, the gap on selecting words between native speakers and EFL learners will
decreases. More and more teachers realize that lexical chunk is at the heart of English
education, because if students don’t grasp lexical chunks, they will misunderstand it
or just make people feel that it is not native enough.
The empirical studies have shown that lexical chunks play a very crucial role in
first language acquisition as well as second language acquisition. At first, the
psycholinguistic significance of chunks is that they are stored and retrieved as a whole,
hence serving a function in speech production by easing the pressure of simultaneous
planning and execution of long stretches of speech. From a communicative
perspective, learners' use of chunks would be a communicative strategy, allowing
them entry into minimal communication; they use it because of a lack of competence
in target language rules. Next, from the perspective of language development, the use
of chunks helps greatly with learners' developing an emerging grammatical
competence. The categorization of functions of lexical chunks is pedagogically useful.
It not only shows the great importance of lexical chunks in our written and spoken
language, but also shows the orientation of language teaching applying lexical chunks.
There are mainly two kinds of classification of the functions. One is provided by
Rosamund Moon (1998). He categorizes five functions of lexical chunks according to
the way in which they contribute to the content and structure of a text:(1)
Informational function. It means that lexical chunk may state proposition and convey
information (by means of, in the running).(2) Evaluative function. It shows that
lexical chunk may convey speaker's evaluation and attitude (It's an ill wind. a pain in
the neck).(3) Situational function. The lexical chunk of this function are related to
extralinguistic context and respond to situation (Excuse me! So long.)(4) Modalizing
function. It means that lexical chunk may convey truth values, advice, requests, etc.
(You know what I mean. I kid you not.)(5) Organizational function. It says that lexical
chunks have a function of organizing text and signaling discourse structure(by the
way, for instance). Another linguist labeling the functions of lexical chunks is Ronald
Carter(1988), who divides lexical chunks into three functional groups based on
Wilkins's notional-functional categories. The first is social interactional group that
describes social relations (see you later, if you don t mind). The second is
necessary-topic group that marks topics about which learners are often asked, or ones
that are necessary in daily conversations (what time…，I'm from... ). The third is
discourse devices that connect the meaning and structure of the discourse (in other
words, as a result).
3. The application of lexical chunks to English teaching
It is impossible or even desirable, to attempt to 'teach' an unlimited number of
lexical chunks. But, it is beneficial for language learners to gain exposure to lexical
chunks and to gain experience in analyzing those chunks in order to begin the process
of internalisation. The structural approach accounts for one aspect of competence by
concentrating on analysis but does so at the expense of access, whereas
communicative approach concentrates on access to the relative neglect of analysis.
Under these conditions, what we need is an approach that provides some sorts of
middle ground, which not only emphasizes grammatical structure but also pays more
attention to language use. Lexical-chunk approach, which is proposes by Michael
Lewis in 1993, might be feasible. It is not simply a shift of emphasis from grammar to
vocabulary teaching, most learners with ‘good vocabularies’ have problems with
fluency because their ‘collocation competence’ is very limited, and that, especially
from intermediate level, teacher should aim at increasing their collocational
competence with the vocabulary they have already got. For Advanced learners, they
should also build on what they already know, using better strategies and increasing the
number of items they meet outside the classroom. The idea of what it is to ‘know’ a
word is also enriched with the collocational component. In contrast to teaching
individual words, lexical approach has some advantages, therefore in recent years,
teachers in senior high schools adopt this new method of teaching vocabulary for
chunks are basic to communication. Research into chunks also leads language
teaching in every step forward, providing principles for textbook-designing,
dictionary-compiling, as well as for working out efficient teaching techniques.
3.1 Teaching chunks in context
The new syllabus is based on lexical and culture rather than grammatical
principles. The new syllabus encourages teachers to teach students in Lexical
Approach and expose them to the language. It is quite practical and the topic in the
course book are so related to our actual life, such as education, music, sports, our
environment, science, living abroad and so on, that students are interested in them, so
as to they long for knowing more and improving their lexis so as to communicate with
each other on these topics in English. Therefore, teachers should consider lexical
chunk as the heart of vocabulary teaching and teaching them in context according to
the arrangement of textbook.
The use of ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ material is also an ideal way to teach chunks.
Teachers can help to give students opportunities to practice new lexical items in
spoken communication, reading materials and also writing tasks. During the course,
good pronunciation might be encouraged getting the sounds and the stress right. The
focus on lexis may occur before, while or after the students read or listen to teaching
materials.
3.2 Teaching students to identify chunks
It is essential to make students aware of chunks, giving them opportunities to
identify, organize and record these. Identifying chunks is not always easy, and at least
at the beginning, students need a lot of guidance. Not only do teachers tell students
the meaning of chunks, but also teach them how to identify chunks. At the same time,
educators should tell the difference of in variable and invariable structure of chunks,
and encourage students to make sentences creatively using variable part. For example,
explaining “It is said that…” can ask students to relate to the following:
It is believed/reported/suggested/hoped/thought/known that…
This method can deepen the understanding and promote the logicality, orderliness and
idiomaticity.
3.3 Generalizing chunks according to topic and function
Teachers pay stress on practicing chunks proficiently according to topic or
functional use of language and cultivate students’ ability of expression freely. At the
beginning of practice, teachers should educate partly and students can grasp the
related chunks for communication, then providing some context or situation for
integrative practice. There are a lot of chunks in English coursebook of senior middle
school as following:
 Apologizing and reply:
Forgive me, I’m very sorry…
I apologize for…
Don’t think anymore about it.
I’m sorry, I didn’’t mean to…
It was most thoughtless of me.
It really isn’t worth mentioning.
Oh, well, that’s life.
 Complaining and reply:
I’m sorry to say…
I hate to have to say this, but…
I’ll look into it immediately.
Could you do something about…?
I’ll do everything I can help you.
You really have to do something about…?
What seems to be the problem?
4. Some implications of lexical chunks for TEFL in senior middle
school
The importance of lexical chunks will suggest that we need to include instruction
on them in language teaching. As this is a new area, it is not yet clear how teachers
can best achieve this. As far as teaching method is concerned, it is suggested that
language teaching needs to put the focus on fluency and accuracy. Teachers need to
concentrate on the development of procedural knowledge, to place much importance
on the role of message in language practice, to provide students with ample
opportunities for practice in classroom teaching. And the teaching activities must be
productive. Only when students are engaged in meaningful use of language,
especially lexical chunks, procedural and autonomous knowledge can be generated,
and new skill can be grasped. Eventually, they can develop confidence in
communication and achieve the fluency and accuracy.
4.1 Changing the traditional methodology
Research into methodology showed that EFT should put forward the focus on the
meaning and function of language and break away from the dithotomy of grammar
and lexis. Educators should use OHE (observe-hypothesize-experiment ) mode in
classroom teaching instead of PPP ( present-practice-produce ) mode.
Two extremes exist in traditional teaching, one is to overemphasize the importance of
grammar, and the other is to pay more attention on communicative approach. At present, the
traditional methodology must be instead by lexical-chunk approach, because English teaching
should not educate grammar and vocabulary in isolation. In addition, this new approach can
promote the knowledge of language for learners efficiently, facilitate to enlarge vocabulary and
communicate with other people using accurate language.
4.2 Inspiring learners’ motivation and waking up their confidence
Many chunks, especially those with pragmatic functions do have equivalents in
other languages. Having students translate chunk-for-chunk (not word-for-word) has
the advantage of getting them to associate chunks in L2 with L1 equivalents, which
can reduce the burden of EFL learning on the students. Most of learners tend to ignore
“small” words (e.g. take, give, get) because they understand the literal meaning of
such words. However, many useful chunks formed by these “small” words are
idiomatic, and their real meaning is hard to guess, for example, give in, give up, take
it easy, take a break. Identifying and learning how to use these chunks will greatly
increase the students’ vocabulary size and fluency.
On the other hand, making sentences-translation enables learners to be familiar
with sentence structure and institutionalized expressions. The process can release the
load of analyzing the rules of grammar. Educators need to tell learners where is the
slots and how to fill them. For example, “ the __er(比较级)…，the __er(比较级)…”
(越……，就越……), students make sentences by using this pattern such as:
 The more he eats, the fatter he will be.
 The more, the better.
 The more haste, the less speed.
 The harder she worker, the more progress she made.
Through making sentences, learners can link what they have already learned with
the new knowledge, which enable them to go over old knowledge and practice other
familiar expressions. Thus, learner’s motivation is well inspired and the confidence in
English are woke up. In addition, making sentences-translation is a successful starting
point in cultivating language fluency and accuracy, which is similar to the real life
communication in nature.
4.3 Helping learners memorize vocabulary through lexical-chunk approach
The importance of vocabulary teaching has been fully recognized by the teachers
of senior high school. But for students they are still poor in memorizing words. What's
more, even though some students can memorize a large number of new words,
problems still arise from the inner process of transferring from language input to
language output. The method of teaching by chunks offers a new way of solving these
problems.
What teachers need badly is how to help the students grasp the lexis.
Encouraging learners to notice language, specifically lexical chunks and collocations,
is central to any methodology connected to a lexical view of language. We just help
learners to notice for themselves how language is typically used so that they will note
the gaps and 'achieve learning readiness' as well as independence from the teacher and
teaching materials.
The key feature of lexical chunks is that they can be stored and retrieved as a
whole, for this reason, teachers should encourage students to memorize vocabulary or
words through chunks. Many learners tend to rote memory or memorize a word in
isolation, because they consider a word is much shorter than a phrase and it looks
much simpler. However, in fact, it is unfortunately wrong and even dangerous to
consider shorter language units easier to learn. A word is absolutely shorter than the
phrase that contains the word, yet the isolated word may have so many meanings that
it may appear more complex and difficult. In contrast, the phrase is relatively stable in
meaning because of the existence of a small context that is useful to acknowledge the
meaning and function of the language unit. Thus, their choice of approaches should be
decided by the effectiveness, not the length, of vocabulary units. For this reason, it is
a wise move for learners to adjust their attitudes to phrases. In a word, lexical-chunk
approach is an ideal way to learn and memorize vocabulary for learners.
5. Conclusion
Research on chunks is making it clear that the patterning resulting from lexical
chunks is a major component of language, so teachers should put the new approach
into action and try to cultivate learners’ ability of fluent and accurate language
production efficiently and pleasantly during communicating without any deliberation.
On the other hand, the advantage of teaching vocabulary through lexical chunks is so
obvious that learners can store or memorize words as a whole. In other words, they
know a lot of words while leaning a chunk. The students in senior middle school not
only long for learning words in long-term memory, but also they want to
communicate with others, especially foreigners, in English fluently. Only can
lexical-chunk approach solve these two aspects of problems, so the application of
lexical chunk in senior middle school seems to be very important. As such, lexical
chunks are likely to become an increasingly important part of TEFL in senior middle
schools, simply because lexical chunks are a key element in how language is used. In
light of their essential nature, teachers and students need to come to a better
understanding of their behavior and develop innovative ways of incorporating lexical
chunk instruction into the language syllabus and teaching.
Notes:
1. David, Wilkins. Linguistics and Language Teaching [M]. 1972:28.
2. 杨玉晨. 英语词汇的板块性及其对英语教学的启示[J]. 外语界,1999(3): 26.
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